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'Approximatley oval in plan, the gate is pierced by a central passage flanked by semi - bastions measuring 50 feet over all. It is set at an angle of 45 degrees with the west curtain and connected by an open space with a building which joins the curtain at right angles. In reality the latter was a second gate throught the centre of which the passage was continued after changing direction in the intervening open space. The buildings which formed this second gate probably attained to a greater height than the rampart wall, which yet remains over 25 feet above the interior ground level, sufficient, with the destroyed battlements, even if not carried higher, to screen a lodging two or three stories in height. The entrance is within a square projection carried to the roof, decreasing in width as it rises by weatherings, two on the north and three on the south side. The present 6 light window and the arch below are of Jacobean date, and fill what was originally a deep recess. The 13th century flat pointed arch can be seen 5 feet from the outer face of the butresses which flanked it; the latter have trefoil-headed niches worked on their outer faces. Possibly at the level of the present window heads the recess between the butresses was filled by machicolations, as at Monnow bridge, Monmouth, which in outline and plan resembles the Blackgate.' (Arch. Ael.,4th ser., vol.II.) < back |